


a light within the shadow

by Serie11



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, The Unversed (Kingdom Hearts), Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 04:23:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21404140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serie11/pseuds/Serie11
Summary: Ven pats the unversed's head, and waits for Vanitas to show up to their picnic.
Relationships: Vanitas/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 85
Collections: Male Slash Flash Exchange 2019





	a light within the shadow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [little_shinra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_shinra/gifts).

Ven leans back against the tree, looking out over the mountain slope. A bird flits across the sky and he follows it for a moment before it leaves his sight.

Another movement catches his attention, and Ven grins. The unversed slips out of the tree line and heads up towards him. Ven watches as it moves from shadow to shadow, clinging to the side of the hill, as if to dissuade any possible prying eyes. As if there would be anyone else up on this hill, besides Ven.

“Hey there,” Ven says quietly to it. It’s a flood, one of the unversed that he used to cut down without half a thought – the most common ones. Vanitas has told him that because only a tiny amount of emotion is needed to produce these unversed, so they only have a slight touch of power in them. He usually releases them as soon as he’s able, since these are ones that are easy to part with. “Where’s Vanitas?”

The unversed simply turns its head to the side and chitters quietly as it darts closer, before hovering uncertainly, just out of Ven’s reach. Ven pats his lap, and the creature zips into a shadow to climb onto him, carefully curling up into a ball. Ven rests a hand on its head and feels a frission of darkness nip at his skin.

It doesn’t take too much longer before Vanitas leaves the tree line as well, following a straighter path than the one that his unversed took. He has one of the ridiculously wide brimmed hats on that Terra gave him a few months ago, and Ven has to stifle a grin as he gets closer. It only takes Vanitas a few minutes out in the sun to develop quite the sunburn, and he doesn’t like how sunscreen feels, so large hats and long sleeves it is. Ven wonders what the Vanitas of several years ago would think, if he could see his future self. 

“What took you so long?” Ven yells when he gets close enough. Vanitas just rolls his eyes at him.

“I was making lunch. That does take more than a minute.”

“It only takes a minute if you just grab some bread and something to put on the bread,” Ven reasons.

Vanitas scoffs. “You should appreciate the food that you have available to you.” He places the picnic basket down next to Ventus, and settles himself on the shadiest part of the picnic blanket.

“I do! When someone else puts in the effort to make something for me,” Ven says cheerfully. “I can tell that you and Aqua like cooking, so I leave it all to you, and then just praise you for your efforts, which you both like. Everyone wins!”

Vanitas shakes his head. “You mean, you get nice food and don’t have to cook.”

“Heh. That too. _But_, I do things that you don’t! So it all adds up.”

“Like what?” Vanitas opens the picnic basket and starts setting out food. Ven immediately goes for the chocolate slice he can see, but Vanitas swats his hand away. “_After_ we eat lunch you can have that, Ventus.”

Ven sighs. “If we’re going to eat it all anyway, then it shouldn’t matter what order we eat it in. And as for things I do, I clean our rooms and the castle, I make sure that you and Aqua leave this world and catch up with your friends, I do most of the washing… though Terra always seems to hang it out, I always seem to forget that part.”

“Fine, fine,” Vanitas says, handing him a bowl of salad.

“And I deal with all your unversed!” Ven says, patting the one that’s in his lap. Vanitas flushes, and something peels out of his shadow, darting off around the tree.

“You do not… ‘deal’ with them. I take care of them when there’s too many underfoot.”

Ven can’t help but frown slightly. “I mean, I look after them and make them happy.”

“They’re not real, Ventus,” Vanitas says tensely. “They’re just bits and pieces of me.”

“And I want to look after you,” Ven tells him. “Besides, they don’t even bite anyone anymore. Master Eraqus never let us have a pet in the castle before, and Aqua still doesn’t, but that doesn’t matter because I have like… unlimited creatures to care about anyway.”

Vanitas turns his head, but Ven still sees the slight tug upwards at the corner of his mouth. “Alright. You do… chase them around and keep them occupied, I suppose. That keeps them from being a nuisance.”

“They’re not a nuisance,” Ven says softly, giving his unversed another fond pat. It sighs for a second and then dissolves, sending slight streaks of darkness floating up. Ven feels the sadness sink into his skin, but it only takes him a second to breathe deeply, and then he can dismiss the emotion. He can feel Vanitas’s eyes heavy on him, and he turns to him with a smile. “See?”

Vanitas gives him a wobbly smile. It makes Ven’s heart sing to see how far they’ve come. “Just… eat your lunch, Ven.”

Ven grins back at him. “Sure. Thanks, Vanitas.”

Vanitas draws his legs up in front of him and hugs his knees, leaning his head against them and staring up into the sky. Two birds fly across the horizon, wings beating in sync. “No problem. No problem at all.”


End file.
